Drought in Beaufort County, NC: 1.9 years in 10 since 2000
1.9 years in 10
Beaufort County, NC: 5 of 26 full years had 13+ weeks in drought. Less drought-prone than most US counties.
- 0
- 9
- 35
- 0
- 0
- 0
- 0
- 19
- 34
- 2
- 4
- 15
- 12
- 0
- 0
- 0
- 0
- 0
- 0
- 0
- 0
- 11
- 11
- 5
- 12
- 25
20002025
Drought years: 2002 (35 wk), 2007 (19 wk), 2008 (34 wk), 2011 (15 wk) and 2025 (25 wk). Not a single drought week in 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020.
A regular lawn is fine here; plan for the odd dry year
Real droughts are rare here. A smart controller that skips watering after rain covers the odd dry year.
You can keep a regular lawn. Worth doing: a rain-sensing or smart controller, and deeper, less frequent watering if Jan turns dry.
Against the rest of NC
96th most drought-prone of 100 NC counties; the NC middle is 3.1 in 10. Closest on the list: Alleghany County (1.9 in 10) and Currituck County (1.9 in 10). Driest in NC: Cleveland County (5 in 10). Least drought: Gates County (1.5 in 10).
When in the year it hits
Most often in Jan (23% of weeks), then Feb (20%) and Mar (20%). Least in Sep (11%). May to September averages 13%.
- 23 Jan
- 20 Feb
- 20 Mar
- 14 Apr
- 12 May
- 14 Jun
- 17 Jul
- 13 Aug
- 11 Sep
- 14 Oct
- 17 Nov
- 17 Dec
The worst year: 2002
2002: 35 weeks in drought, peaking at D2 severe. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 16% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 5.5% at D2, 0.3% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 43 weeks, Oct 30, 2001 to Aug 20, 2002.
Lately
Last drought year: 2025, 25 weeks. 2016-2025: 1 in 10, against 2.5 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 30 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.
Further reading
Beaufort County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2002, was not one of the big national drought years; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Beaufort County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.